These are the laws that force the government to do its business in the open, in meetings the public can attend. The name comes from a famous line: sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Sunshine laws require that government meetings and records be open to the public. They mandate that decisions be made in view, that meetings be announced in advance, and that the public and press be allowed to attend, rather than letting officials decide behind closed doors.
The name comes from a powerful metaphor. The reformer and future Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis wrote that sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants, meaning that openness and publicity are the surest cure for corruption and abuse.
They exist at every level. The federal Government in the Sunshine Act and similar open-meeting and open-records laws in all fifty states require public bodies, from Congress to the local school board, to conduct the public's business where the public can see it.
Their logic is preventive. Corruption, favoritism, and bad decisions flourish in secrecy and wither under observation. By forcing officials to act in the open, sunshine laws make it harder to do in the dark what could not survive being seen.
